Agroforestry

Agroforestry

Agroforestry is an agricultural approach of using the interactive benefits from combining trees and shrubs with crops and/or livestock.
It combines agriculture and forestry technologies to create more integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems.

Definitions

"Agroforestry is a collective name for land use systems and practices in which woody perennials are deliberately integrated with crops and/or animals on the same land management unit. The integration can be either in a spatial mixture or in a temporal sequence. There are normally both ecological and economic interactions between woody and non-woody components in agroforestry".
-World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) 1993

It means that trees are intentionally used within agricultural systems. Knowledge, careful selection of species and good management of trees and crops are needed to maximize the production and positive effects of trees and to minimize negative competitive effects on crops.

Alternatively, agroforestry might be defined as simply: trees on farms Hence, agroforestry, farm forestry and family forestry can be broadly understood as the commitment of farmers, alone or in partnerships, towards the establishment and management of forests on their land. Where many landholders are involved the result is a diversity of activity that reflects the diversity of aspirations and interests within the community.

Impact

Biodiversity in agroforestry systems is typically higher than in conventional agricultural systems. Agroforestry incorporates at least several plant species into a given land area and creates a more complex habitat that can support a wider variety of birds, insects, and other animals. Agroforestry also has the potential to help reduce climate change since trees take up and store carbon at a faster rate than crop plants.

Silvopasture

Silvopastures combine livestock grazing on forage crops or pastures within actively managed tree crops. Cattle, sheep and goats have all been incorporated into silvopasture systems in British Columbia and they may be deployed entirely within a private farm/woodlot silvopasture or through collaborative arrangements between forest licensees and livestock producers on Crown land (e.g. using sheep as a vegetation management tool on forest plantations).

Integrated Riparian Management

Riparian buffers are managed forest and shrubs in areas bordering lakes, streams, rivers, and wetlands. Integrated riparian management systems are used to enhance and protect aquatic and riparian resources as well as generating income from timber and non-timber forest products. Similar to shelter and timberbelts, integrated riparian management systems can employ a wide variety of tree and shrub species, with specific plantings tailored to suit the specific growing conditions and production opportunities.

Other Uses

Agroforestry practices may also be employed to realize a number of other associated Environmental Services, including:

Carbon sequestration

Odour, dust, and noise reduction

Waste water or manure management (e.g. utilizing urban waste water on intensive, short rotation forests for wood fibre production)